MILWAUKEE — A lot has changed in the past year for Hawks guard Trae Young.
A year after an incident that raised questions about his leadership on the team, things look and feel different, and he has embraced the weight that his voice carries. In a shootaround before the team’s contest against the Nuggets on Dec. 2, 2022, Young and the team’s former coach disagreed on the course of treatment.
Young did not attend the team’s game in what both he and the former coach called a miscommunication. But the incident led to a tense exchange with reporters at the following shootaround a few days later.
This season though, Young has shown that he is a leader of this team. He’s remained even-keel and has taken accountability when the Hawks fall short.
Following the team’s season opener against the Hornets, Young looked at his 5-of-29 on 3-point shots with shock. But he quickly said that would improve, a mantra he repeated as he navigated some early shooting inefficiencies.
Leading vocally hasn’t always been how Young has done things throughout his playing career. Growing up, Young didn’t play point guard until the eighth grade and then his freshman year of high school. Even with the extra minutes at the position, the team had a varsity point guard.
“I’ve always been a guy just leading by example,” Young said. “I was on the wing. I was quiet. I was a certain way, and I always just felt like my actions speak louder than words.”
But as he as grown into his role at the point, Young understood that he would have to talk more. It’s been a continued learning process for Young, who turned 20 right before his NBA debut. The Hawks still had guys on the roster who boasted five or more seasons of experience, plus Vince Carter, who had over two decades under his belt.
Young has confidence in how far he has come, but he knows that he can still get better.
“It’s like a learning process, and I know it takes time to do that, especially when you’re young coming into the league and you try to lead grown men. That’s a whole ‘nother adjustment period, too. So, it’s just a lot that goes into being a leader vocally. And, that’s something that even the best those people still struggle with, and they gotta be better at it.”
Young has looked to use his voice more this season, especially in a Quin Snyder system that looks to keep the entire team engaged. The Hawks look to run a quick, fast-paced offense that relies heavily on their ability to get out in transition.
For it to work, the Hawks obviously need to get stops, which they have struggled with a number of times this season. But, they’ve become one of the NBA’s top offenses this season, scoring 122.5 points per night, which ranks second behind the Pacers.
Part of that has come down to how much the team has moved the ball, as eight of the nine players in the team’s regular rotation have averaged double-figures in scoring. It’s allowed everyone to get involved, and it’s not only Young and his backcourt partner Dejounte Murray creating opportunities for everyone.
It’s part of Snyder’s system, and Young has taken up the “everybody eats” mentality. Though he ranks in the 97th percentile in usage and assist percentage, he’s dropped his per shot attempts to the 53rd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
He remains the Hawks’ leading scorer, though, averaging 26.8 points and 10.6 assists through 17 games. As he has adjusted to all the demands of Snyder’s system, his efficiency around the floor has seen an uptick after a very slow start.
Through the first nine games, he shot 36% overall from the floor and made only 30% of his shots from distance. But the pendulum has swung in the other direction following the birth of his daughter last month. Though he continues to navigate how defenses look to close in on him when he attacks the basket, he’s found his stroke from outside. Over his past eight games he made 40% of his 3-point shots.
Offensively, Young has thrived in Snyder’s system. Last season he had three 40-point nights in 73 games. This season he has that with 64 games to play.
“I think his 3-point shooting is a big, big part of his game,” Snyder said after the team’s loss to the Celtics on Sunday. “He had a lot going on in the season. He had a baby. I think he’s been really committed to running the team in a way where we’re attacking collectively. He’s beginning to really find windows during the course of the game where he’s recognizing when he’s open. And he’s not hesitating. And I think that’s reflected in his 3-point shooting.
“If he’s taking those shots, sometimes even when he’s not making them, I have confidence in him, and they’re gonna go in. But it does a lot of other things on the court to set up other parts of his game to involve other people. And I think that’s a big thing for him to continue to do. And I think he’s taking good shots.”
The Hawks have needed those big offensive nights from Young, and they need them more with the absence of injured forward Jalen Johnson.
They’ll need even more out of what he has been able to do on defense, particularly with Johnson out. The Hawks will need to continue putting out their best effort on the defensive end, especially after giving up 130 or more points in three of their past six games.
The Hawks have the fifth-worst defense in the NBA, with a defensive rating of 117.9. They’re aware of their limitations, especially in the absence of Johnson, but the Hawks are seeing the commitment to get better.
There was no bigger indicator of that than the final seconds of Thursday’s game against the Spurs. With four seconds left in the game, a bad pass nearly led to a transition bucket that could have sent the game into overtime. But Young got back in transition, set his feet and drew a game-sealing charge.
“Let’s just go ahead and change the narrative right now,” Snyder said following that game. “Trae Young taking a charge at the end of a game is a big-time play. And, we talked about defense with our team. We’re not always the best defensive team. But we’re going to improve if we keep working, and there’s some limitations. There’s no question about that right now with JJ. But if there’s a commitment like that, and just still a hell of a play by Trae.”
It’s just another moment of what has been a big step forward for Young this season.
In an overtime win over the Nets on Nov. 22, Young picked up Mikal Bridges after De’Andre Hunter got stuck in a screen from Nets’ Royce O’Neal. With 41 seconds in the game, Young moved his feet, corralling Bridges to the corner. Young held off Bridges long enough for Hunter to come back and help. But Bridges pivoted away, and Young was back to defending him.
Then Bridges called for a screen from Nets center Nic Claxton, and it brought Hawks center Clint Capela out of the paint to give Young some defensive help. It forced Bridges to put up a shot as the clock wound down. Though the shot fell, Young’s defense forced the Nets to waste 18 seconds to find a look that rolled around the rim, hung on the back of it before eventually falling.
Like the charge he drew Thursday, Young is getting plenty of stops this season, boasting a 14-game streak with at least one steal. This season he is tied with a number of players for 11th in the NBA in steals, averaging 1.6 per game. Per Cleaning the Glass, he ranks in the 69th percentile in steal percentage, up from the 28th percentile last season. This is the first time in his career Young has sat higher than the the 33rd percentile.
But Young isn’t just hunting for steals. He’s committed to making an impact all over the floor, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Following the Hawks’ win over the Wizards on Nov. 25, Hunter pointed to Young’s energy to pick up full-court defense as something that sparked energy for the rest of the team.
“I can’t say nothing about defense if I ain’t playing defense,” Young said. “You know what I’m saying? So, that’s me showing my actions, like, what I’m wanting to do, and then they see what I’m doing. Then I can speak up more on that end, too, and speak on how I feel that way.”
At 9-9, the Hawks know that they still have plenty of work to do. When Snyder took over the Jazz in 2014, they finished the season three games below .500. But they chipped away and eventually were 51-31 by the end of the third season.
Snyder has asked a lot of new and different things of the Hawks. Young pointed to a joke that Mike Conley, who played under Snyder for three seasons with the Jazz, joked about needing a Ph.D. to play in Utah.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the comment of Mike Conley talking about how tough it is, you have to be a smart guy to know his offense, and if Mike Conley is saying that, you got to think of, you know, saying like, how hard it really is,” Young said. “So, as a PG it’s fun to be in because he makes you think. He makes you get better. It really makes it easier for us at the end of the day when you really know it.”
About the Author
